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Good day. A windswept sea cascades off the coast in the cool autumn air. Not a windmill in sight.
Pretty straightforward one today.
In the email today:
📆 Upcoming events
🐋 Windmill updates
🏠 Real estate update
🌊 Weather and tides
📆 Upcoming Events in (and around) Ocean City
November 3
OCTC’s Jr Company Presents Into The Woods
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Music Pier
Description: The Tony Award-winning book and score are both enchanting and touching. The story follows a Baker and his wife, who wish to have a child; Cinderella, who wishes to attend the King’s Festival; and Jack, who wishes his cow would give milk. When the Baker and his wife learn that they cannot have a child because of a Witch’s curse, the two set off on a journey to break the curse. Everyone’s wish is granted, but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later with disastrous results. Get tickets here.
November 4
Winterfest by the Sea
When: 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: Sports and Civic Center on 6th Street
Description: The Chamber of Commerce presents their Fourth Annual Winterfest By The Sea Holiday Shopping Extravaganza. The event takes place inside the Civic Center. Craft vendors, food vendors and strolling Santa will be present
OCTC’s Jr Company Presents Into The Woods
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Music Pier
Description: Get tickets here.
Also note the Ocean City Library has many events for adults and kids alike on their calendar, which can be viewed here.
You can see the full list of events in all nearby Shore towns with the following links: Ocean City | Sea Isle | Margate | Avalon | Stone Harbor | Somers Point | Wildwood | Cape May | Ventnor
Other events to look forward to: Earlier Than The Bird Shopping Extravaganza (November 18), Christmas in the Downtown (November 24)
🏘 Sponsored: Featured Property of the Week - 615 E. 16th Street (Open House This Weekend!)
Welcome to Santa Rosa. Ocean City’s unique and beautiful gated community with lavish amenities, a courtyard, fountains, and stunning views built by Achristavest. It’s just steps off the beach and Boardwalk at 16th St.
The second floor is now under contract. But the first floor is still available of this beautiful, 4-bedroom condo just steps from the beach.
Contact Kevin Laskowski at 267-432-1248 or [email protected] for details on this property and a private tour.
There is also an OPEN HOUSE THIS WEEKEND, Saturday 12:00 - 3:00, Sunday 11:00 - 1:00.
Berger Realty
609-391-0500
1670 Boardwalk
Ocean City, NJ 08226
🤳 News Bits
Windmill Updates 🐋
In case you have been living under a giant monopile, the big news this week is that Orsted, the Danish offshore windmill company, has said it will abandon Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2, the two large offshore wind turbine installations that have been the cause of much controversy over the last 2+ years.
Here’s a rundown of what happened and what comes next.
On Tuesday night, Halloween, Orsted released a statement saying it would abandon Ocean Wind 1 and 2, and reevaluate Revolution Wind (a project planned off the coast of Rhode Island), citing rising costs due to inflation and interest rates as primary reasons for the change of course.
They took a $4 billion impairment charge in Q3 (up to $2.8 billion of it on Ocean Wind 1 itself). Their stock plummeted 20% on the news (currently down about 15% for the week).
Governor Phil Murphy, a proponent and ardent supporter of the offshore wind projects, issued a STRONGLY-WORDED STATEMENT™.
Here it is:
“Today’s decision by Orsted to abandon its commitments to New Jersey is outrageous and calls into question the company’s credibility and competence. As recently as several weeks ago, the company made public statements regarding the viability and progress of the Ocean Wind 1 project. In recognition of the challenges inherent in large and complex projects, my Administration in partnership with legislative leadership insisted upon important protections that ensure New Jersey will receive $300 million to support the offshore wind sector should Orsted’s New Jersey projects fail to proceed. I have directed my Administration to review all legal rights and remedies and to take all necessary steps to ensure that Orsted fully and immediately honors its obligations.
“Ultimately, as we have seen in other states recently, offshore wind projects awarded prior to 2020 have been impacted by a combination of interest rate escalation, supply chain cost increases, and inflation. And while today is a setback, the future of offshore wind in New Jersey remains strong. In recent weeks we’ve seen a historically high number of bids into New Jersey’s ongoing third offshore wind solicitation, and the Board of Public Utilities will shortly announce two additional solicitations related to our first-in-the-nation State Agreement Approach to build an offshore wind transmission infrastructure.
“I remain committed to ensuring that New Jersey becomes a global leader in offshore wind – which is critical to our economic, environmental, and clean energy future.”
Republican representative Jeff Van Drew, who worked closely with offshore wind opponents, spiked the football, took out his sharpie, signed an autograph, and chest-bumped the masses:
“Tonight, David defeated Goliath! These Green New Deal style wind farms were bad for our economy, bad for our environment, and would have been an unmitigated disaster for South Jersey’s hard working middle class families which is why we fought like hell over the last few years to make their defeat a reality.
“Thank you to the elected officials from every corner of South Jersey, Judge Michael Donohue, all of the various grassroots organizations that spring up, and most importantly the people of South Jersey who have stood shoulder to shoulder with us in this fight. While we welcome the news that Orsted has abandoned Ocean Wind One & Two, we need to build on this momentum and see to it that the remaining projects proposed off our Coast meet the same fate.”
Mayor Gillian was happy, too, saying to the OC Sentinel:
“It’s a relief to see this costly and hastily approved project abandoned. It had become increasingly clear that it made no sense for ratepayers, the environment or even the future of clean energy.”
Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, which represents a partnership between Shell New Energies and EDF Renewables North America, said it is still a go for areas a bit father north of Ocean City, but they too face, ahem, headwinds.
Here’s a map of the projects, from The Inquirer:
There’s egg on lots of faces here. Let’s break down the dairy dissemination:
Egg 1: Orsted CEO Mads Nipper and company executives. Orsted has a market cap of roughly $17 billion. They just took a $4 billion impairment charge in the last quarter. Their stock plummeted 15% this week (more at the trough). Ocean Wind 1 and 2 represented the first large-scale offshore win installations in the US, and the company simply underestimated both pushback and the difficulties and cost of getting the job done. Their stock chart since 2021, Mads’ first year at the helm, AIN’T GREAT:
Egg 2: Governor Murphy. This was his big project, for better or worse. His STRONGLY-WORDED STATEMENT™ reeks of an attempt to save face and redirect blame for the project’s failure to ever really get started. He managed to piss off wide swaths of constituents, assign billions in tax credits to a foreign company, and leave proponents of the wind projects - namely those who stand to benefit from the jobs it would have provided - disappointed. It’s almost impossible to lose an issue on all fronts, but he may have done it.
Here’s what The Inquirer wrote about the Paulsboro Marine Terminal, which was constructed to build the giant monopolies:
Orsted’s withdrawal poses a major blow to the New Jersey Wind Port. In July, the company had agreed to sublease 34 acres there, becoming the first tenant. Orsted expected to create 200 jobs at the site and 15,000 jobs overall over the 25-year life span if its two wind farms. The Murphy administration says the port was not built for Orsted, but for multiple developers. Atlantic Shores is another potential tenant.
That’s like saying Lincoln Financial Field wasn’t built for the Eagles because it can host concerts too.
But oh man, he is walking this back so fast that he appears to be moonwalking:
Let's be clear: @Orsted has not received a dime of ratepayer or taxpayer dollars.
In fact, we’re bringing Orsted to the table to ensure the company fully honors its financial commitments.
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy)
Nov 1, 2023
Egg 3: President Biden. Federal leaders are a bit more sophisticated when it comes to exposing themselves to failures like this (they deflect blame like foil on a sunny day). But make no mistake, Ocean Wind 1 and 2 were a BIG DEAL for the President’s clean energy efforts, and he certainly didn’t want to see headlines like this, from the Washington Post, no less:
Ouch. Imperil.
So what happens now? It’s unclear. The governor’s STRONGLY-WORDED STATEMENT™ likely doesn’t have much teeth— he’s not going to tweet Orsted into driving 98 windmills into the Ocean floor.
Same goes for Atlantic Offshore Wind. They say the plan is to move forward, but their challenges are the same, and Orsted’s decision is a huge blow to the industry, both locally and nationally.
🏠 Real Estate Update
Did you know Walking The Boards has a newsletter dedicated to Ocean City Real Estate?
If you would like to opt-in, just click the subscribe button right here:
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🌊 Weather and Tides
As always, we recommend getting up-to-date forecasts from THE GOAT of South Jersey weather, NorEaster Nick, directly on his Facebook page. You can also download his app.
Tides (9th Street):
Friday (11/3)
High: 12:23 AM
Low: 6:17 AM
High: 12:36 PM
Low: 7:33 PM
Saturday (11/4)
High: 1:23 AM
Low: 7:14 AM
High: 1:33 PM
Low: 8:33 PM
Sunday (11/5)
High: 1:27 AM
Low: 7:16 AM
High: 1:35 PM
Low: 8:30 PM
Monday (11/6)
High: 2:29 AM
Low: 8:20 AM
High: 2:34 PM
Low: 9:21 PM
Tuesday (11/7)
High: 3:24 AM
Low: 9:19 AM
High: 3:28 PM
Low: 10:05 PM
Wednesday (11/8)
High: 4:11 AM
Low: 10:12 AM
High: 4:16 PM
Low: 10:43 PM
Thanks! Enjoy the weekend.